archiveplease LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 23: ***EXCLUSIVE*** Musician Vince Neil of Motley Crue poses for a portrait during the 2008 American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on November 23, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Caulfield/Getty Images for AMA) (2008 Getty Images)

archiveplease LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 23: ***EXCLUSIVE*** Musician Vince Neil of Motley Crue poses for a portrait during the 2008 American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on November 23, 2008

UPDATE: The gates are open at the AT&T Center and music is under way at the inaugural River City Rockfest. The show should go on rain or shine, an AT&T Center spokesperson said. Contest winner Texas opened the fest on the second stage. The main stage music kicks off at 2 p.m. with anthemic British rockers Young Guns.

Most Popular

River City Rockfest presents 20 acts on three stages; the main stage also offers names like Alice In Chains and Bullet for My Valentine.

But it's fair to say Rose is the day's wildcard.

He caused a sensation in London in April, according to published accounts, when he sported a new haircut which one writer described as looking like “Meg Ryan with red hair.”

But as long as Rose still howls and dances in his ragged embroidered jeans, wears lots of bling on his fingers, wrists and neck and (please) a bandanna, does anything else matter?

The answer is no. But fans should forget any fantasy of seeing Rose and Slash and the rest of the original group onstage at this gig — or at any other ever again.

The singer refused to attend the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. He later apologized.

The Los Angeles Times published the letter declining the invitation. “I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia,” Rose wrote, adding “time to move on.”

Rose filed a lawsuit against a video-game company (a judge dismissed it) because the “Guitar Hero” game had contained a likeness of the stove-pipe hat wearing guitarist Slash. “He hates my guts,” Slash, , told Rolling Stone in 2012. “It's over a lot of different stuff; I don't even know. There's just no communication between us.”